RSU 19 voters to consider second loan to solve budget crisis

NEWPORT, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --- School leaders in RSU 19 will once again be looking for the public's help Tuesday evening to solve a massive budget crisis in that district.

District residents in RSU 19 --- which is made up of Newport, Hartland, Dixmont, Etna, Palmyra, St. Albans, Plymouth and Corinna --- will be meeting at Nokomis Regional High School this evening. Leaders in the RSU will be asking them to approve taking out a $2.9 million loan to help with a massive budget shortfall the district is facing.

The shortfall has already caused hundreds of thousands of dollars to be cut from this year's budget in the RSU. On Election Day district voters rejected taking out a $3.6 million loan to deal with the crisis. That resulted in $700,000 in cuts to district programs and services.

School leaders say this smaller loan should help the district pay off its bills from this year and create a better base of cash for next school year.

"It's a combination of paying off old debt and having a little bit of working capital to move forward into the next year," said Greg Potter, who is the superintendent of the district, "so as to not have to go out and borrow any credit note or additional loan of any kind."

The budget meeting will start at 7 p.m. at the high school. People in attendance can decide to change the loan amount or approve taking out no loan all together. Any decision will then have to be approved by district voters in a special election next week.